Weather vane



O. D. HARBERT Dec. 5, 1950 WEATHER VANE Filed Nov. 13, 1946 INVENTOR: and D. flawed Patented Dec. 5, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WEATHER VANE Otis D. Harbert, Corina, Calif. Application November 13, 1946, Serial No. 709,456

1 3 Claims. The invention relates to a weather vane of the windmill type useful as an advertising device or otherwise and has for an object to provide a weather vane which is simple in construction and composed of a number of elements which may be readily assembled for use or readily taken apart to package the device in a comparatively small space for shipment.

Another object of the invention is to provide a weather vane having counter rotating co-axial wind wheels wherein the front wheel does not completely overlap the rear wheel in any position.

Another object of the invention is to provide for the windmill a pair of counter rotating wind wheels which are substantial duplicates of each other and each being composed of a number of parts which can be readily assembled for operation or disassembled for packaging in a, small space.

For further details of the invention reference i maybe made to the drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a weather vane according to the present invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged front view in elevation with parts broken away, the view being taken r Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view on line 4-4 on Fig. 3.

Fig. is a view corresponding to Fig. 2, of a modification.

Referring in detail to the drawings, the weather vane 1 comprises a tubular standard 2 which rotatably supports a shaft 3 having at its front end two separate and independent counter rotating co-axial wind wheels 4 and 5 and at its rear end a weather vane 6.

The shaft 3 is made up of a number of units as follows: The standard 2 supports at its upper end a T pipe section I and threaded into the middle branch 8 thereof is a vertical pipe or rod 9 which rotatably fits in the tube 2. A rubber washer l0 and a leather washer is are arranged between the upper end of the tube 2 and the lower end of the branch 8. Thi prevents noise of a metal to metal contact and seals the support 2 against moisture. Threaded in the side branch II is an elongated pipe section l2, the rear end of which is split as indicated at Hi, to embrace the front end 34 of the vane B. The splitend I3 is fastened to the vane 6 by belts or the like l5.

Threaded into the side branch 55 9f the T l is a shorter pipe section i-l threaded at its front end into a reducing nipple 58. In the nipple i8 is a bolt 19 which serves as a spindle or axle for the wheels 4 and 5. These wheels 4 and 5 are spaced apart by a sleeve 20. The wheels'fi and 5 and sleeve 20 are held in position against the outer end of nipple !8 by a nut on the outer end of the bolt I 9. p

The wheels 4 and 5 are substantial duplicates of each other, except for the tilt angle at which holes are drilled in their outer ends for securing the windmill vanes thereto. Fig. 4, for example,

shows a vane 22 secured tothe outer end of a tubular arm 23 by a bolt 24 which passes through the vane and through a hole 25 through the arm 23. The angle at which suchholes are drilled is so chosen that the vanes like 22 will be tilted in such a manner as to cause the wheels 4 and 5 to rotate in opposite directions. Otherwise, the wheels 4 and 5 are alike, notingthat wheel 5 is reversed in position on the bolt [9 with respect to wheel 4, i. e. the hubs 3| and 32 face in opposite directions. As a result of this reversal, as shown in Fig. 2, the arms like 23 on one wheel do not overlie the corresponding arms on the other wheel, whereby the vanes like 22 on the front wheel do not completely shut off the flow of air to the vanes'like 25 for the rear wheel, for any position of the two wheels. There is some overlap at certain positions but as soon as the front wheel 4 starts to rotate, it unmasks the vanes like 26 of the rear wheel 5 and during that time the current of air which spills oil from the front vane such as 22, as well as the oncoming current of air, is directed against the rear vanes like 26 on the rear wheel and both wheels continue to rotate in opposite directions. Rotation in a slight current of air is assured by the ball bearing mount for the wheels, the wheel 4 as shown in Fig. 3 having a hub 3i having fixed therein a ball bearing 2'! and wheel 5 having a hub 32 having a similar ball bearing 28. These ball bearings 27 and 28 are rotatable on the bolt [9 and slidable into or out of position on that bolt when assembling the device or taking it apart.

The hub 3! of front Wheel 4 has a pair of tubular arms 23, 29 which are substantially parallel and extend in opposite directions on one side of the wheel on opposite sides of its axis. The arms 23 and 29 are removably secured to the face of the wheel by bolts like 39. The vanes like 22, 26 may be of flat sheet metal somewhat in the shape of a trowel, although other shapes may be used.

In the modification shown in Fig. 5, the hub 35 may be a pulley and the vane arms 36, 31 may be secured thereto by means of parallel bolts 38, 39. the middle portion of each bolt fitting in the groove 40 in the pulley. The hub pulley 35, as indicated above, has a ball bearing 4! like bearings 21 and 28. The hub 35 shown in Fig. 5 is for the front wheel, while the rear wheel would be identical in construction but reversed in position on the bolt 42 so that if the rear wheel were rotated to bring its arms parallel to the one shown, the arm behind 36 would project down while arm 36 projects up, and the arm behind 31 would project up while arm 3! projects down, the same being true of the corresponding arms in the form shown in Figs. 1 to 4, whereby the vanes of the front wheel are offset from the vanes on the rear wheel for all rotatable positions of the two wheels.

It will be apparent that with the construction shown, the device is constructed of simple parts which may be readily put together and such parts may be packed disassembled in a comparatively small package, as the vanes, bolts and pipe couplings shown make it possible to break down the weather vane into a number of separate component parts.

Various modifications may be made in the invention without departing from the spirit of the following claims. For example, the propeller arms may be tubular or solid, and they may be of various shapes, such as round, square, hexagonal or fiat. In the last three examples, the tilt of the vanes may be efiected shaped washer or other shim.

I claim:

1. A weather vane comprising a spindle having separate and independent counter rotating coaxial wind wheels thereon, each of said wheels having a ball bearing hub rotatably fitting said spindle, a pair of parallel oppositely extending arms removably secured to each of said hubs, a vane for the outer end of each of said arms, the hub and arms of one of said wheels being substantially the same as the hub and arms of the other wheel, one of said wheels being reversed in position on said spindle with respect to the other by using a wedge wheel, whereby each vane on one of said Wheels is always out of alignment with the vanes on the other wheel the outer ends of said arms having slant holes, bolts for removably securing one of said vanes to each of said arms, the holes for one pair of said arms being at an angle with respect to the holes of the other pair of arms for counter rotation of said wheels.

2. A weather vane comprising a T coupling having side branches and a middle branch, an elongated threaded member in said middle branch, a tubular support in which said member rotatably fits, said support serving to support the end of said middle branch, one of said side branches having a threaded member therein having a vane removably secured thereto, said other side branch having a threaded member therein having a reducing nipple thereon, a bolt in said nipple, separate and independent counter rotating co-axial wind wheels rotatably carried by said bolt and a sleeve on said bolt between said wheels.

3. A Weather vane comprising a rotatable arm, a hollow fitting extending from and fixed to said arm, a bolt removably carried by and projecting beyond said fitting, said bolt having a head concealed in said fitting, separate and independent counter rotating wheels each having a ball bearing on said bolt, a sleeve on said bolt between said wheels, said bolt having an outer end having a nut, said fitting having an outer end cooperating with said nut for clamping said bearings and said sleeve in position on said bolt.

OTIS D. HARBERT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 492,011 I-Iaight Feb. 21, 1893 804,684 Summers Nov. 14, 1905 1,110,951 Lonsinger Sept. 15, 1914 1,736,972 Hutchinson Nov. 26, 1929 1,905,444 Davis Apr. 25, 1933 

